Private Matters
by Kare Uta
Summary: A few private matters leave Eles feeling...uncomfortable, to say the least; which causes Gwin's fatherly instincts to surface after quite some time. Oneshot.


**Private Matters**

"Eles needs to stop running off on her own every chance she gets." Lucille sighed, propping seating himself on the open doorway of the back of the car. "She's going to get hurt! One of you should go find her!" His ankle was still swollen from a simple fall, an incident caused by his own carelessness with Guignols; something he had gotten teased heavily for by Kohaku.

"She's not that far away." Gwin reasoned.

"And we're not her babysitter!"

Lucille glared over at Kohaku, "Her father trusted her with us so technically, we are!"

"Then _you're_ her babysitter! You made that deal with him; not us. So why don't you go on and hobble over to wherever she is and get her back yourself."

Lucille rolled his eyes, gripping both sides of the door and going to hoist himself up when Gwin stopped him, climbing out of the car from behind him. "I'll go and find her." In fact, she had confided in him, very quietly, where she would be, and had asked him so that nobody follow her; he hadn't asked questions because he trusted her as much as she trusted him.

The trees, plants and bushes rustled louder as he moved through them, able to see the small clearing a short distance away.

"Who's there?" Eles' voice sprung out loud and clear.

"It's me; Gwin." He paused just before the last few branches had been pushed out of the way of his large form.

"Go away! I'll be back soon!"

"Are you bathing?"

"No but…"

Her honesty was something he loved about her, but in times like these it was her downfall; he walked through the last few branches and stopped just a metre from her. "So what are you doing over there?" She was clearly trying to hide the wet clothing in her lap, shielding the articles with the rest of her body.

"Nothing."

"You're not a very good liar." He accused, seating himself beside her and staring into the water. He watched her frown deepen and then added, "Don't be discouraged; being a bad liar is a good thing."

"I'm not doing anything wrong; I promise!"

"Do you want to tell me the truth?"

"Not really."

He resisted chuckling; there was her honesty again. "It's not entirely an option…"

"W-Why?"

"Because we're a team and we shouldn't keep secrets from each other; that's what you tried to teach us."

"W-We don't…need to share everything."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" He pulled his gloves off his lithe fingers, placing them in his pockets before he took the hedgehog out of his hat, "Here." He passed her the small animal and on instinct she held onto it with both hands, instinctively letting go of the items that Gwin quickly took from her lap. "Thanks." He mumbled.

She accused him quickly, "You tricked me!" and wanted to grab the items from him before he could unravel them but was left holding the pet so that it wouldn't run with excitement.

"You forget that I had a daughter so I know about these things." He opened up the fabrics and dunked the garment into the water before scrubbing the pieces together. "So how long have you been doing this?"

"This is the first…"

"That's good."

"Why is it good?" Her bright blue eyes sparkled up at him; a mixture of sadness and frustration.

"Because it means you haven't been dealing with it alone for a long time."

Eles covered her pretty little face with her arms, pulling her long fringe further over her eyes. "Stop talking about it." She reached over and snatched her clothes from him quickly, passing him the hedgehog, "And stop touching it."

"Has anyone ever talked to you about it?"

"Of course!"

"Really?"

"Yes, Vivian did."

"That's…very good… I was the one who talked to my daughter and…to be honest I'd never like to do it again."

"Vivian told me boys don't know anything about it."

"Vivian…probably wasn't wrong but men know things too." He glanced over at her, "The others know some things too."

"So?"

"So if you tell them…"

"No!" She let go of everything and began pounding her small fists into his big arms. "Don't you dare, Gwin! I'll never forgive you! Okay? I won't!" Her little face scrunched up with many feelings, tears poured out of her eyes and onto her rosy cheeks; how could he ever go against such honest feelings?

"I won't say anything unless you let me." He petted her head lightly, drumming his fingers atop her scalp and easing her desperation. "But we're going to be travelling together for a while longer and…I think it would be easier if you told Kohaku and Lucille also."

"Lucille will get all dramatic about it, and Kohaku will tease me!"

"I'm sure if you…"

"You don't really believe it!"

"Would you prefer it if I spoke to them?" He cracked his knuckles; the action sounded much like stepping on a loose wooden floorboard.

"Just don't tell them anything. I'll be okay like this."

"Now you don't believe _that_."

No, truthfully, she didn't believe it; one day alone had become difficult to hide it from the boy's; every time she cringed in pain, every time she shifted about uncomfortably, every time she asked when they'd be stopping so she could clean her clothes, every time she changed and didn't let them near her… They didn't all notice these things; but Lucille noticed, and after that it wouldn't be long before it became an issue.

He understood all her silent thoughts; she was scared, not just of what they would say if she told them, but what they would do if she didn't. It was simply too much for a little girl to burden herself with; she was already hiding her entire identity from the world, why did she have to hide everything from those that she was closest to also?

"Stay and clean your clothing but be back before sunset; in the meantime, I shall tell the others of this so that they understand."

"Gwin…"

"I will make sure they don't tease you." He stood up before she could say anything else, a hand sliding across the top of her head as he passed.

When he returned Lucille could have all but jumped out of his seat, "Where is she? Didn't you find her?" He looked around him, wondering where the little girl was.

"I found her; she's by the river cleaning some of her clothes."

"Why didn't she just give them to Lucille? That's what I do." Kohaku said, jerking his thumb in the singer's direction with a sneaky grin on his face.

"She's begun bleeding." Gwin confessed to the two, climbing back into the car and lowering his voice. "She's very scared and she doesn't need us causing her anymore discomfort."

Kohaku was momentarily stuck, "Bleeding?"

"My little girl is all grown up!" Lucille squealed.

"This is exactly what I mean." Gwin sighed.

"Oh! Now I get it!"

"This explains so much." Lucille began to think hard. "But then…isn't she a little too young?"

"Giving her time is the only thing that will tell if it is a related internal injury instead."

"Is this why she hasn't come back yet? She's all bent out of shape over this little thing?"

"It's not a little thing to a girl, Kohaku." Lucille reprimanded gently. He glanced back at Gwin as he was shifting things around in a medicine box, "Well, go and get her back, Gwin! We're not going to fuss over it if she doesn't want us to."

"She should be coming back on her own any moment now." He looked to the sky; it was beginning to file with brighter colours, signifying the nearness of the end of the day. "She's late already."

He headed back out of their small clearing, thinking the girl had possibly gotten carried away in trying to clean her clothing. Instead, he found her curled up against a tree about half way between the river and the car; her lips were pursed together, her eyes were watery, but her strong expression showed that she refused to give in to anymore tears.

"They know now." He sat back down beside her, whispering his words as though to show her that she didn't have to share anyone else but them. "They won't try to tease you, I'm almost certain." She smiled vaguely but pulled her legs tighter to her chest. He pulled a small fluffy white roll of bandages out of his pocket, "Vivian told you how to use these, right?"

Due to her fear of saying anything, and Lucille's close eye on everything in the van, she hadn't even been able to take any of them; how it even came to Gwin's mind that she needed them, she still couldn't comprehend. "Yes."

"Come back to the car then; we'll need to move soon." When she followed him back to the car she kept her head low, hiding her red cheeks. Gwin resisted grabbing Lucille from his hair to get his grinning face out of the car, but picked him up and set him on a rock instead.

Eles closed both doors and Gwin leant back against them, glaring at Lucille's snickering expression, "Do you even have a heart?"

"I'm not laughing at her; I'm laughing at you! Where has this fatherly instinct been?"

Gwin remained silent, crossing his arms firmly against his chest and resisting glaring at the man for much longer. Lucille noticed he had struck a nerve and his grin faded into more of a sweet smile.

The door nudged Gwin a bit as Eles tried to open it once she was ready, stepping out beside the group; still hanging her head. Kohaku reached over, his finger tip prodding her in the cheek, "I don't know what everyone's fussing about," he complained, coming in close, "you still look like a boy to me."

Eles blushed a deep red but giggled nonetheless, knowing that in his heart Kohaku was just trying to make her feel better.

Upon Lucille's gentle instructions that they should leave everyone settled back into the car; Gwin was ordered to drive since Lucille was too weak to do so, and…well, nobody trusted Kohaku behind the wheel anymore.

Lucille turned to Eles, Gwin noticed the movement through the mirror but tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, "You'll tell us when you need something, right, Eles? I'll remember to buy more things when we restock supplies at villages, and I'm sure we can find a doctor if you need one."

"Please don't worry too much, Lucille." Eles forced a small smile. "I thought something like this would happen so…"

"Don't make a fuss over it." Kohaku waved her off from the front seat. "It's a little thing."

"I'll take care of it all by myself; I won't let it inconvenience you all."

"Don't worry about inconveniencing us; just tell one of us what you need, when you need it, and we'll work something out." The blond singer continued to pet her hair softly, smiling with a warmth that comforted her into resting against him. "It's getting late." He pointed out gently.

"We'll drive a little further ahead," Kohaku could twist the map he held in a hundred different directions and he still couldn't read it, so why he even bothered nobody knew, "and then we'll stop for the night but anywhere should be better than where we were."

Lucille glanced down at the girl, having opened his mouth to speak. He found her sound asleep already. Her fingers were curled into her small hands which she held to her chest, amongst the ruffles of her shirt and her legs drawn close. "She's asleep already."

It wasn't before long that they stopped the car; not too far from the next city but, hopefully, not too close to an infestation either. The three sat in the back, tossing pillows and skimpy blankets about to form makeshift beds. Gwin leaned over the back seat to tuck a pillow under her head and a thick jacket over her small body. Kohaku jumped over to the front seat, making his bed away from Lucille and Gwin, the former looking up with an odd smirk. "Dare I ask, why couldn't you be like this with your own daughter?" The singer asked.

"Don't ask me questions I can't answer."

"Is it that difficult of a question?"

"Lucille." Eles' sleepy sing-song voice called out. Her head popped up suddenly from behind the seat, "Don't bully Gwin, okay?"

"Whatever you say, darling." Lucille answered back sweetly, feigning a smile and laugh. He lay back, tossing his long hair over his pillow, "Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams." Eles said promptly. She leaned over the other seat, about to tell Kohaku the same thing until she heard snoring. "Hey, Gwin,"

"Hm?"

"For all that…"

"We shouldn't talk about it; you said so yourself."

"I was just going to say thank you."

"You don't need to say it." He rolled over on the ground of the car, sighing lowly, knowing he would have to wake again in a matter of hours.

Nonetheless, all could sleep soundly simply because they knew well the company they were in; they trusted each other, whether it was unconditionally at first or not or anything of the sort.

Eles could lay down, in a car with three men, each one stranger than the other in their own way, in the middle of a forest, and still feel safer than she ever did in her own home. Suddenly she wondered why she had ever felt scared, why she had ever felt uncomfortable around them; she had nothing to even worry about. Not when she was with them.

**A/N: *Thinks she's scared off any men that were reading* Oh well! Life goes on after all! So…yeah…just a little bit of randomness that came to mind. I…don't really have much to say for it; no excuses~ **

**So, if you've read this far, please leave a review! **


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